The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol.
1

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 529 MYSTERIOUS SUN FLUID.

VIII.
LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY.

THE imponderable fluids have had their
day; "mechanical Forces" are less talked about; Science
has put on a new face for this last quarter of a century; but
gravitation has remained, owing its life to new combinations after
the old ones had nearly killed it. It may answer scientific hypotheses
very well, but the question is whether it answers as well to truth,
and represents a fact in nature. Attraction by itself is not
sufficient to explain merely planetary motion; how can it
presume to explain the rotatory motion in the infinitudes of Space?
Attraction alone will never fill all the gaps, unless a special
impulse is admitted for every sidereal body, and the rotation
of every planet with its satellites is shown to be due to some
one cause combined with attraction. And even then, says
an astronomer ("Philosophie Naturelle,"
art. 142), Science would have to name that cause.

Occultism has named it for ages, and so have all the ancient philosophers;
but then all such beliefs are now proclaimed exploded superstitions.
The "extra cosmic" God has killed every possibility
of belief in intra cosmic intelligent Forces, yet who,
or what is the original pusher in that motion? "When
we have learned the cause, unique et speciale,that
pushes, we will be ready to combine it with the one which attracts,"
says Francoeur ("Astronomie," p. 342).
And again -- "Attraction between the celestial bodies is
only repulsion: it is the Sun that drives them incessantly
onward; for otherwise, their motion would stop."

If ever this theory of the Sun-Force being the primal cause of
all life on earth and motion in heaven is accepted, and if that
other far bolder one of Herschell -- about certain organisms in
the Sun -- is accepted even as a provisional hypothesis, then
will our teachings be vindicated, and esoteric allegory shown
to have anticipated Modern Science by millions of years, probably,
for these are the Archaic teachings. Marttanda (the Sun) watches
and threatens -- without abandoning the central position to which
his Mother, Aditi, relegated him -- his seven brothers, the planets;
"he pursues them, turning slowly around himself . . . and
follows them from afar, moving in the same direction that they
do, on the path that encircles their houses" -- or the orbit.
(See Comment to Stanza IV., Book I.)It
is the Sun-fluids or Emanations that impart all motion and awaken
all into life, in the Solar System. It is attraction and repulsion,
but not as understood by modern physics and according to the law
of gravity; but in harmony with the laws of Manvantaric motion
de-

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 530 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

signed from the early Sandhya,the Dawn of the
rebuilding and higher reformation of the System. These
laws are immutable; but the motion of all the bodies, which motion
is diverse and alters with every minor Kalpa -- is regulated
by the Movers,the Intelligences within the
Cosmic Soul. Are we so very wrong in believing all this? Well,
here is a modern and a great man of Science who, speaking of vital
electricity, uses language far more akin to Occultism than to
modern materialistic thought. We refer the sceptical reader to
an article on "The Source of Heat in the Sun," by Robert
Hunt , F.R.S., (in "Popular Science Review,"Vol. IV., p. 148), who, speaking of the luminous envelope
of the Sun and its "peculiar curdy appearance," says:
--

"Arago proposed that this envelope should be called the Photosphere,
a name now generally adopted. By the elder Herschell, the surface
of this photosphere was compared to mother-of-pearl. . . . . It
resembles the Ocean on a tranquil summer-day, when its surface
is slightly crisped by a gentle breeze. . . . Mr. Nasmyth has
discovered a more remarkable condition than any that had previously
been suspected . . . objects which are peculiarly lens-shaped
. . . . like 'willow leaves . . . . different in size . . . .
. not arranged in any order crossing each other in all directions
. . . . . with an irregular motion among themselves . . . . .
. . They are seen approaching to and receding from each other,
and sometimes assuming new angular positions, so that the appearance
. . . . . has been compared to a dense shoal of fish, which, indeed,
they resemble in shape. . . . The size of these objects gives
a grand idea of the gigantic scale upon which physical (?) operations
are carried out in the Sun. They cannot be less than 1,000 miles
in length, and from two to three hundred miles in breadth. The
most probable conjecture which has been offered respecting
those leaf or lens-like objects, is that the photosphere* is
an immense ocean of gaseous matter (what kind of "matter?")
. . . in a state of intense (apparent) incandescence, and that
they are perspective projections of the sheets of flame. . . ."

Solar "flames" seen through telescopes are reflections,says Occultism. But see what Occultists have to say to this
in Book I.

"Whatever they may be (those sheets of flame), it is evident
they are the immediate sources of solar heat and light. Here
we have a surrounding envelope of photogenic matter,** which pendulates
with mighty energies, and by communicating its motion to the ethereal
medium in stellar space, produces heat and light in far distant
worlds. We have said that those forms have been compared to certain
organisms, and Herschell says, 'Though it would be too daring
to speak of such organizations as partaking of life [why
not?],*** yet we do not know that vital action is competent to
develop heat, light, and electricity.' . . . Can it be that
there is truth in this fine thought? May the pulsing of vital
matter

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* And the central mass,too, as will be found,
or rather the centre of the reflection.

** That "matter" is just like the reflection in a mirror
of the flame from a "photogenic" lamp-wick.

*** See "Five Years of Theosophy,"p. 258 -- answer to this speculation of Herschell's.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 531 SUN-FORCE AND EARTH-FORCE.

in the central Sun of our System be the source of all that
life which crowds the earth, and without doubt overspreads the
other planets, to which the Sun is the mighty Minister?"
. . .

Occultism answers these queries in the affirmative; and Science
will find this to be the case, one day.

Again, on p. 156, Mr. Hunt writes: --

"But regarding Life -- Vital Force -- as a power far more
exalted than either light, heat, or electricity, and indeed capable
of exerting a controlling power over them all"(this
is absolutely occult). . . . . "we are certainly disposed
to view with satisfaction that speculation which supposes the
photosphere to be the primary seat of vital power,and
to regard with a poetic pleasure that hypothesis which refers
the Solar energies to Life."

Thus, we have an important scientific corroboration for one of
our fundamental dogmas -- namely, that (a) the Sun is
the store-house of Vital Force, which is the Noumenon
of Electricity; and (b) that it is from its mysterious,
never-to-be-fathomed depths, that issue those life currents which
thrill through Space, as through the organisms of every living
thing on Earth. For see what another eminent physician says, who
calls this (our life-fluid) "nervous Ether." Change
a few sentences in the article, extracts from which now follow,
and you have another quasi-Occult treatise on
Life Force. This once, it is again Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S.,
who gives his views in the "Popular Science Review,"
Vol. X., p. 380-3, on "Nervous Ether,"
as he has on "Sun-Force" and "Earth-Force":
--

"The idea attempted to be conveyed by the theory is, that
between the molecules of the matter, solid or fluid, of which
the nervous organisms, and, indeed, of which all the organic parts
of a body are composed, there exists a refined subtle medium,
vaporous or gaseous, which holds the molecules in a condition
for motion upon each other, and for arrangement and rearrangement
of form; a medium by and through which all motion is conveyed;
by and through which the one organ or part of the body is held
in communion with the other parts, by which and through which
the outer living world communicates with the living man: a medium,
which, being present, enables the phenomena of life to be demonstrated,
and which, being universally absent, leaves the body actually
dead. . . . . ."

And the whole Solar System falls into Pralaya --the author might have added. But let us read further:

. . . "I use the word Ether in its general sense as
meaning a very light, vaporous or gaseous matter; I use it, in
short, as the astronomer uses it when he speaks of the Ether of
Space, by which he means a subtle but material medium. . . . .
When I speak of a nervous Ether, I do not convey that the
ether is existent in nervous structure only: I believe truly that
it is a special part of the nervous organization; but, as nerves
pass into all structures that have capacities for movement and
sensibilities, so the nervous ether passes into all such parts;
and as the nervous ether is, according to my view, a direct product
from blood, so we may look upon it as a part of the atmosphere
of the blood.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 532 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

. . . The evidence in favour of the existence of an elastic medium
pervading the nervous matter and capable of being influenced by
simple pressure is all-convincing. . . . In nervous structure
there is, unquestionably, a true nervous fluid, as our predecessors
taught* The precise chemical (?)** composition of this
fluid is not yet well known; the physical characters of it have
been little studied. Whether it moves in currents, we do not know;
whether it circulates, we do not know; whether it is formed in
the centres and passes from them to the nerves, or whether it
is formed everywhere where blood enters nerve, we do not know.
The exact uses of the fluid we do not consequently know. It occurs
to my mind, however, that the veritable fluid of nervous matter
is not of itself sufficient to act as the subtle medium that connects
the outer with the inner universe of man and animal. I think --
and this is the modification I suggest to the older theory --
there must be another form of matter present during life; a matter
which exists in the condition of vapour or gas, which pervades
the whole nervous organism, surrounds as an envelopingatmosphere*** each molecule of nervous structure, and is
the medium of all motion, communicated to and from the nervous
centres. . . . When it is once fairly presented to the mind that
during life there is in the animal body a finely diffused form
of matter,a vapour filling every part -- and even
stored in some parts; a matter constantly renewed by the vital
chemistry; a matter as easily disposed of as the breath, after
it has served its purpose -- a new flood of light breaks on the
Intelligence ." . . . .

A new flood of light is certainly thrown on the wisdom of ancient
and mediaeval Occultism and its votaries. For Paracelsus wrote
the same thing more than three hundred years ago, namely, in the
sixteenth century, as follows: --

"The whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the
Liquor Vitae,a nerve fluid . . . in which is
contained the nature, quality, character, and essence of beings."
. . . (De Generatione Hominis). . . . "The Archaeus
or Liquor Vitae is an essence that is equally distributed
in all parts of the human body. . . . The Spiritus Vitae takes
its origin from the Spiritus Mundi. Being an emanation
of the latter,it contains the elements of all cosmic
influences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of
the stars (cosmic forces) upon the invisible body of man (his
vital lingasharira)may be explained."
(De Viribus Membrorum. See"Life of Paracelsus"
by Franz Hartmann, M.D., F.T.S.)

Had Dr. Richardson studied all the secret works of Paracelsus,
he would not have been obliged to confess so often -- "we
do not know" . . . . "it is not known to us" .
. . . etc., etc. Nor would he have ever pronounced the following
sentence, recanting the best portions of his independent rediscovery,in which he says (p. 384): --

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 533 PANTHEISM OR MONOTHEISM.

"It may be urged that in this line of thought is included
no more than the theory of the existence of the ether . . . .
supposed to pervade space. . . . . It may be said that this universal
ether pervades all the organism of the animal body as from without,
and as part of every organization. This view would be Pantheism
physically discovered if it were true (!!) It fails
to be true because it would destroy the individuality of every
individual sense. . . . ."

We fail to see it, and we know it is not so. Pantheism
may be "physically rediscovered."
It was known, seen, and felt by the whole of antiquity. Pantheism
manifests itself in the vast expanse of the starry heavens, in
the breathing of the seas and oceans and the quiver of life of
the smallest blade of grass. Philosophy rejects one finite
and imperfect God in the universe, as the anthropomorphic
deity of the monotheist is represented by his followers. It repudiates
in its name of Philo-Theo-Sophia the
grotesque idea that Infinite, Absolute Deity should,
or rather could,have any, whether direct or
indirect, relation to finite illusive evolutions of matter, and
therefore cannot imagine a universe outside that Deity,
or the latter absent from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate
substance.* Why either the Ether of Space, or "nervous Ether"
should "destroy the individuality of every sense" seems
incomprehensible for one acquainted with the real nature of that
"nervous ether" under its Sanskrit, or rather esoteric
and Kabalistic name. Dr. Richardson agrees that --

"If we did not individually produce the medium of communication
between ourselves and the outer world, if it were produced from
without and adapted to one kind of vibration alone,there were fewer senses required than we possess: for, taking
two illustrations only -- ether of light is not adapted for sound,
and yet we hear as well as see; while air, the medium of motion
of sound, is not the medium of light, and yet we see and hear."

This is not so. The opinion that "Pantheism fails to
be true because it would destroy the individuality of every
individual sense" shows that all the conclusions of the learned
doctor are based on the modern physical theories, though he would
fain reform them. But he will find it impossible to do this unless
he allows the existence of spiritual senses to replace the gradual
atrophy of the physical. "We see and hear," in accordance
(of course in Dr. Richardson's mind) with the explanations of
the phenomena of sight and hearing, by that same materialistic

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* This does not mean that every bush, tree or stone is God or
a god; but only that every speck of the manifested material
of Kosmos belongs to and is the substance of "God,"
however low it may have fallen in its cyclic gyration through
the Eternities of the ever becoming,; and also that every such
speck individually, and Kosmos collectively, is an aspect and
a reminder of that universal One Soul --which
philosophy refuses to call God, thus limiting the eternal and
ever-present root and essence.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 534 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

science which postulates that we cannot see and hear otherwise.
The Occultists and mystics know better. The Vedic Aryans were
as familiar with the mysteries of sound and colour as our physiologists
are on the physical plane, but they had mastered the secrets of
both on planes inaccessible to the materialist. They knew of a
double set of senses; spiritual and material. In a man who is
deprived of one or more senses, the remaining become the more
developed: e.g., the blind man will recover his sight
through the senses of touch, of hearing, etc., and he who is deaf
will be able to hear through sight, by seeing audibly the
words uttered by the lips and mouth of the speaker. But these
are cases that belong to the world of matter still. The spiritual
senses, those that act on a higher plane of consciousness are
rejected a priori by physiology because the latter is
ignorant of the sacred science. It limits the action of ether
to vibrations, and, dividing it from air -- though air is simply
differentiated and compound ether -- makes it assume
functions to fit in with the special theories of the physiologist.
But there is more real science in the teachings of the Upanishads
when these are correctly understood, than the Orientalists, who
do not understand them at all, are ready to admit. Mental
as well as physical correlations of the seven senses (seven
on the physical and seven on the mental planes) are clearly explained
and defined in the Vedas, and especially in the Upanishad called
Anugita: "The indestructible and the destructible, such is
the double manifestation of the Self. Of these the indestructible
is the existent (the true essence or nature of Self, the underlying
principles). The manifestation as an individual (or entity) is
called the destructible." Thus speaks the ASCETIC
in Anugita; and also: "Every one who is twice-born (initiated)
knows such is the teaching of the ancients. . . . . Space is the
first entity. . . . . Now Space (Akasa,or the
noumenon of Ether) has one quality . . . and that is sound only
. . . and the qualities of sound are Shadga, Rishabha, Gandhara,
Madhyama, Panchama, and beyond these five Nishada and Dhaivata";
(the Hindu gamut). These seven notes of the scale are the principles
of sound. (Vide ch. xxxvi. of Anugita.) The
qualities of every Element, as of every sense, are septenary,
and to judge and dogmatize on them from their manifestation (likewise
sevenfold in itself) on the material or objective plane above
is quite arbitrary. For it is only by the SELF
emancipating itself from these (seven) causes of illusion that
one acquires the knowledge (secret wisdom) of the qualities of
objects of sense on their dual plane of manifestation -- the visible
and the invisible. Thus it is said: --

"State this wonderful mystery . . . . . Hear the assignment
of causes exhaustively. The nose, and the tongue, and the eye,
and the

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 535 THE SEVEN PHYSICAL SENSES.

skin, and the ear as the fifth (organ of sense) Mind and Understanding,*
these seven (senses) should be understood to be the causes of
(the knowledge of their) qualities. Smell, and taste, and colour,
sound, and touch as the fifth, the object of the mental operation,
and the object of the Understanding (the highest spiritual sense
or perception), these seven are causes of action. He
who smells, he who eats, he who sees, he who speaks, and he who
hears as the fifth, he who thinks, and he who understands, these
seven should be regarded as the causes of the agents.**
These (the agents) being possessed of qualities (sattwa,
rajas, tamas),enjoytheir own
qualities, agreeable and disagreeable" (Anugita).

Then one reads in the Bhagavadgita (chap. vii.) the Deity (or
Krishna) saying: --

". . . . Only some know me truly. Earth, Water, Fire, Air,
Space (or Akasa,AEther), Mind, Understanding
and Egoism (or the perception of all the former on the illusive
plane). . . This is a lower form of my nature. Know (that
there is) another (form of my) nature, and higher than this, which
is animate, O you of mighty arms! and by which this Universe is
upheld. . . . All this is woven upon me, like numbers of pearls
upon a thread (Mundakopanishad,p. 298). . .
. I am the taste in the

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from
great antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher
has asked himself how these senses could exist, i.e.,
be perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was
the sixth sense, mental perception to register and record
them; and (this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the SEVENTH
to preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as
in a Book of Life which belongs to Karma. The ancients divided
the senses into five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates)
stopped at the hearing,as being that sense
which developed in the physical plane (got dwarfed rather,
limited to this plane) only at the beginning of the Fifth Race.
(The Fourth Race already had begun to lose the spiritual condition,
so pre-eminently developed in the Third Race.)

** The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning
of the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, "causes of
the agents," to mean "that the powers of smelling, etc.,
when attributed to the Self, make him appear as an agent, as an
active principle" (!), which is entirely fanciful. These
"seven" are understood to be the causes of the Agents,
because "the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes
an impression." It means esoterically that they, these seven
senses, are caused by the AGENTS, which
are the "deities," for what does, or can, the sentence
which follows this one mean? "Thus," it is said, "these
seven (senses) are the causes of emancipation" (i.e.,
when these causes are made ineffectual). "And among the learned
(the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities which are
inthe position (in the nature, rather) of the
deities,each in its place," means simply that
the "learned" understand the nature of the noumenoi
of the various phenomena; and that "qualities," in this
instance, mean the qualities of the high planetary or Elementary
gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their products,and not at all "the senses," as the modern commentator
thinks. For the "learned do not suppose their senses to have
aught to do with them, any more than with their SELF."
(Vide pp. 278 and 279 of the VIII. Vol. of "The
Sacred Books of the East." Anugita.)

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 536 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

water, O son of Kunti! I am the light of the sun and moon. I am
. . . sound ('i.e., the Occult essence which underlies
all these and the other qualities of the various things mentioned,'
Transl.),in space . . . the fragrant smell
in the earth, refulgence in the fire . . . etc., etc."

Truly, then, one should study Occult philosophy before one begins
to verify and seek the mysteries of nature on its surface alone,
as he alone "who knows the truth about the qualities of nature,
who understands the creation of all entities . . . is emancipated"
from error. Says the "preceptor": "Accurately understanding
the great tree of which the unperceived (Occult nature, the root
of all) is the sprout from the seed (Parabrahmam) which consists
of the understanding (Mahat,or the universal
intelligent Soul) as its trunk, the branches of which are the
great egoism,* in the holes of which are the sprouts, namely,
the senses, of which the great (Occult, or invisible) elements
are the flower-bunches,** the gross elements (the gross objective
matter), the smaller boughs, which are always possessed of leaves,
always possessed of flowers . . . . which is eternal and the seed
of which is the Brahman (the deity); and cutting it with that
excellent sword -- knowledge (secret wisdom) -- one attains immortality
and casts off birth and death."

This is the Tree of Life, the Asvattha tree, only after the
cutting of which the slave of life and death, MAN,
can be emancipated.

But the men of Science know nought, nor will they hear of the
"Sword of Knowledge" used by the adepts and ascetics.
Hence the one-sided remarks of the most liberal among them, based
on and flowing from undue importance given to the arbitrary divisions
and classification of physical science. Occultism heeds them very
little, and nature still less. The whole range of physical phenomena
proceed from the Primary of Ether -- Akasa, as dual-natured
Akasa proceeds from undifferentiated Chaos,so-called,
the latter being the primary aspect ofMulaprakriti,
the root-matter and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahmam.
Modern Science may divide its hypothetically conceived ether in
as many ways as it likes; the real AEther of Space will
remain as it is throughout. It has its seven principles, as all
the rest of nature has, and where there was no Ether there
would be no sound,asit is the vibrating
sound-board in nature in all of its seven differentiations. This
is the first mystery the Initiates of old have learned. Our present
normal physical senses were (from our present point of view) abnormal
in those days of slow and progressive downward evolution and fall
into matter. And there was a day when all that which in our modern
times is regarded as phenomena, so puzzling to the

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* Ahamkara,I suppose, that Egoship (or
Ahamship) which leads to every error.

** The elements are the five tanmatras of earth, water, fire,
air and ether, the producers of the grosser elements.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 537 WHAT IS NERVOUS ETHER?

physiologists now compelled to believe in them -- such as thought
transference, clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc.; in short, all
that which is called now "wonderful and abnormal" --
all that and much more belonged to the senses and faculties common
to all humanity. We are, however, cycling back and cycling forward;
i.e., having lost in spirituality that which we acquired
in physical development until almost the end of the Fourth Race,
we (mankind) are as gradually and imperceptibly losing now in
the physical all that we regain once more in the spiritual re-evolution.
This process must go on until the period which will bring the
Sixth Root-Race on a parallel line with the spirituality of the
Second, long extinct mankind.

But this will hardly be understood at present. We must return
to Dr. Richardson's hopeful though somewhat incorrect hypothesis
about "nervous ether." Under the misleading translation
of the word as "Space"(Akasa),it has just been shown in the ancient Hindu system as the
"first born" of the One, having but one quality, SOUND
(which is septenary). In esoteric language this "One"
is the "Father" Deity, and "Sound" is synonymous
with Logos (Verbum, or the Son). Whether
consciously or otherwise, it must be the latter; and Dr. Richardson,
while preaching an Occult doctrine -- chooses the lowest form
of the septenary nature of that "SOUND" and speculates
upon it, adding: --

"The theory, I offer, is that the nervous Ether is an
animal product. Indifferent classes of animals it
may differ in physical quality so as to be adapted to the special
wants of the animal, but essentially it plays one part in all
animals, and is produced, in all, in the same way. . . ."

Herein lies the nucleus of error leading to all the resultant
mistaken views. This "Nervous Ether" is the lowest principle
of the Primordial Essence which is Life. It is animal
vitality diffused in all nature and acting according to the
conditions it finds for its activity. It is not an "animal
product," but the living animal, the living flower or plant
are its products. The animal tissues only absorb it according
to their more or less morbid or healthy state -- as do physical
materials and structures (in their primogenial State
-- nota bene)--and henceforward,
from the moment of the birth of the Entity, are regulated, strengthened,
and fed by it. It descends in a larger supply to vegetation
in the Sushumna sun-ray which lights and feeds the moon,
and it is through her beams that it pours its light upon, and
penetrates man and animal, more during their sleep and rest, than
when they are in full activity. Therefore Dr. Richardson errs
again in stating that: --

"The nervous ether is not, according to my idea of it, in
itself active, nor an excitant of animal motion in the
sense of a force; but it is essential as supplying the conditions
by which the motion is rendered possible." (It is just
the reverse.) . . . . "It is the conductor of all vibrations
of heat, of light, of sound, of electrical action, of mechanical

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 538 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

friction.* It holds the nervous system throughout in perfect tension,
during states of life (true). By exercise it is
disposed of (rather generated). . . and when demand
for it is greater than the supply, its deficiency is indicated
by nervous collapse or exhaustion.** It accumulates in the nervous
centres during sleep, bringing them, if I may so speak, to their
due tone, and therewith raising the muscles to awakening and renewed
life. . . ."

Just so; this is quite correct, and as comprehensible. Therefore,
"The body fully renewed by it, presents capacity for motion,
fulness of form, life. The body bereft of it presents
inertia, the configuration of shrunken death, the evidence
of having lost something physical that was in it when it lived."

Modern Science denies the existence of a "vital principle."
This extract is a clear proof of its grand mistake. But this "physical
something," that we call life-fluid -- the Liquor Vitae
of Paracelsus -- has not deserted the body,as Dr. Richardson thinks. It has only changed its state from
activity to passivity, and become latent owing to the too morbid
state of the tissues, on which it has no more hold. Once the rigor
mortis absolute, the "Liquor Vitae"will re-awaken into action, and begin its work on the atoms
chemically. Brahma-Vishnu -- the creator and the Preserver
of Life -- will have transformed himself into Siva the Destroyer.

Lastly he writes on p. 387: --

"The nervous Ether may be poisoned; it may, I mean, have
diffused through it, by simple gaseous diffusion, other gases
or vapours derived from without; it may derive from within products
of substances swallowed and ingested, or gases of decomposition
produced during disease in the body itself."

And the learned gentleman might have added on the same Occult
principle: "That the 'nervous Ether' of one person can be
poisoned by the 'nervous Ether' of another person or his auric
emanations. Butsee what Paracelsus said of 'Nervous
Ether'": --

"The Archaeus is of a magnetic nature, and attracts or
repels other sympathetic or antipathetic forces belonging
to the same plane. The less power of resistance for astral influences
a person possesses, the more will he be subject to such influences.
The vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates (within)
and around him like a luminous sphere (aura) and it may be made
to act at a distance. . . . It may poison the essence of life
(blood) and cause diseases,or
it may purify it after

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* The conductor in the sense of Upadhi --a
material or physical basis; but, as the second principle of the
universal Soul and Vital Force in Nature, it is intelligently
guided by the fifth principle thereof.

** And too great an exuberance of it in the nervous system leads
as often to disease and death. If it were the animal system
which generated it,such would not be the case,
surely. Hence, the latter emergency shows its independence of
the system, and connection with the Sun-Force, as Metcalfe and
Professor Hunt explain it.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 539 THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE.

it has been made impure, and restore the health" (Paragranum;
"Life of Paracelsus,"by Dr.
F. Hartmann.)

That the two, Archaeus and "nervous Ether," are identical,
is shown by the English Scientist, who says that the tension of
it generally may be too high or too low; that it may
be so "owing to local changes in the nervous matter it invests."
. . . "Under sharp excitation it may vibrate as if in a storm
and plunge every muscle under cerebral or spinal control into
uncontrolled motion --unconscious convulsions."

This is called nervous excitation, but no one, except Occultists,
knows the reason of such nervous perturbation or explains the
primary causes of it. The "principle of Life"
may kill when too exuberant,as also when there
is too little of it. But this principle on the manifested (or
our) plane is but the effect and the result of the intelligent
action of the "Host" -- collectively, Principle
-- the manifesting LIFE and LIGHT.
It is itself subordinate to, and emanates from the ever-invisible,
eternal and Absolute ONE LIFE
in a descending and a re-ascending scale of hierarchic degrees
-- a true septenary ladder, with SOUND (or the
Logos) at the upper end and the Vidyadharas* (the inferior Pitris)
at the lower.

[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------

* In a recent work on the Symbolism in Buddhism and Christianity
(in Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, rather, many later rituals
and dogmas in Northern Buddhism in its popular exoteric form,being identical with those of the Latin Church) some curious
facts are to be found. The author of this volume, with more pretensions
than erudition, has indiscriminately crammed into his work ancient
and modern Buddhist teachings, and sorely confused Lamaism with
Buddhism. On page 404 of this volume, called "Buddhism
in Christendom, or Jesus the Essene,"our
pseudo-Orientalist devotes himself to criticizing
the "Seven Principles" of the Esoteric Buddhists, and
attempts to ridicule them. On page 405, the closing page, he speaks
enthusiastically of the Vidyadharas,"the
seven great legions of dead men made wise." Now, these "Vidyadharas,"
whom some Orientalists call "demi-gods," are in fact,
exoterically, a kind of Siddhas, "affluent in devotion,"
and, esoterically,they are identical with the
seven classes of Pitris, one class of which endow man in the Third
Race with Self-Consciousness by incarnating in the human shells.
The "Hymn to the Sun," at the end of his queer volume
of mosaic, which endows Buddhism with a personal god (!!),
is an unfortunate thrust at the very proofs so elaborately collected
by the unlucky author.

Theosophists are fully aware that Mr. Rhys Davids has expressed
his opinion on their beliefs likewise. He said that the theories
propounded by the author of Esoteric Buddhism "were not Buddhism,
and were not Esoteric." The remark is the result of (a)
the unfortunate mistake of writing "Buddhism" instead
of "Budhaism," or Budhism, i.e.,of connecting the system with Gautama's religion instead
of with the Secret Wisdom taught by Krishna, Sankaracharya, and
by many others, as much as by Buddha; and (b) of the
impossibility of Mr. Rhys Davids knowing anything of true esoteric
teachings. But he is, at all events, the greatest Pali and Buddhist
scholar of the day, and whatever he may say is entitled to respectful
hearing. But when one who knows no more of exoteric Buddhism on
scientific and materialistic lines, than he knows of esoteric
philosophy, defames those whom he honours with his spite, and
assumes with the Theosophists the airs of a profound scholar,
one can only smile and -- heartily laugh at him.

[[Vol. 1, Page]] 540 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.

Of course, the Occultists are fully aware of the fact that the
Vitalist "fallacy," so derided by Vogt and Huxley, is,
nevertheless, still countenanced in very high scientific quarters,
and, therefore, they are happy to feel that they do not stand
alone. Thus, Professor de Quatrefages writes: --

"It is very true we do not know what life is;
but no more do we know what the force is that
set the stars in motion. . . . . Living beings are heavy, and
therefore subject to gravitation; they are the seat of numerous
and various physico-chemical phenomena which are indispensable
to their existence, and which must be referred to the action of
etherodynamy (electricity, heat, etc.). But these phenomena are
here manifested under the influence of another force.
. . . . Life is not antagonistic to the inanimate forces, but
it governs and rules their action by its laws."*